Poughkeepsie Middle School improved during the 2017-18 school year, according to the state Education Department.

But, the state said the school failed to meet two-thirds of its progress targets, and its growth score — known as a performance index — dropped significantly from the 2016-17 year.

And, Poughkeepsie teachers union President Stephanie Green says issues such as "aggressive student behavior" and inconsistent enforcement of the code of conduct have been detrimental to the learning environment.

"We are still a receivership school," said Poughkeepsie interim Superintendent Kathleen Farrell, during a board meeting Wednesday. But the district is "fortunate that the state made the determination... that we are still under local receivership."

That means the district "still controls the activities of our middle school, rather than the state" having that control, Farrell added.

State Education Commissioner MaryEllen Elia announced Wednesday that most of the New York schools in receivership made demonstrable improvement last year, including Poughkeepsie Middle School.

Those schools will keep operating under the authority of their superintendent receivers — Farrell, in Poughkeepsie's case — and will continue to implement their approved turnaround plans.

Many of Poughkeepsie's indicators had a higher threshold to hit in 2017-18 than the year prior, when more of the indicators were met.

But Green on Wednesday told Farrell the district's response to the concerns brought up by the teacher's union has been "inconsistent at best and nonexistent at worst."

Receivership

The state's receivership program paved the way for an outside “receiver” to oversee schools that have long been struggling to improve graduation rates and student test scores.

The middle school was among those in New York deemed struggling and placed into receivership in 2015. Poughkeepsie High School was also in receivership, but improved enough to be removed.

A school's performance indicators, such as student achievement, attendance, safety and suspension rates, are jointly selected by the state and district.

Most of Poughkeepsie's indicators are related to state testing.

And while staff turnover is not among the middle school's indicators, "50 percent of our teachers are brand new this year," Farrell said. "That's an enormous number."

The school also has a new principal.

How Poughkeepsie Middle School scored

According to the state:

► Poughkeepsie Middle had a 2017-18 performance index of 55 percent. The higher a school's performance index, the better.

► Last year, the middle school met eight of its 15 indicators, including school safety and growth on state test scores in math and English language arts.

► Targets the middle school did not meet last year include teacher attendance, and students scoring above a Level 2 on the state math and ELA exams.

► The middle school's performance index was 81 percent in 2016-17, when it met 14 of 17 performance indicators.

Some schools improved last year, but still didn't hit at least 67 percent of their indicators.

The districts in which those schools are located — including Poughkeepsie — are to "immediately review" performance and identify reasons they did not hit two-thirds of their measures, according to the state. They also have to "take additional steps to intensively monitor and support these schools" this year.

"We will be required within the next two weeks to report out on ... what we are doing to drive those indicators up," Farrell said.

Generally, Poughkeepsie had higher progress targets to meet last year than it did in the past.

For instance, the middle school's 2017 teacher attendance target was 90 percent, which it met with 90 percent.

Its 2018 teacher attendance target was 94 percent. The school hit 90.7 percent for teacher attendance, higher than the year before, but lower than the target.

A difficult environment

Teachers, meanwhile, delivered a scathing assessment of the climate at the middle school — and the high school.

District educators "composed and presented" a list of the most pressing issues, Green said during Wednesday's school board meeting.

Among the issues mentioned by Green, who works at the middle school:

► "Aggressive student behavior" is common.

"The new code of conduct is not being enforced," Green said. "Student fights, close to riots, and verbal assaults that would make your eyelashes curl, are (happening) on a regular basis and go without consequence. There are consequences for this kind of behavior in every other facet of society. Why not our school?"

► Hall sweeps — identifying students in the hall without a pass after the bell — are inconsistent at the high school and nonexistent at the middle school.

"There is no better way to set a tone, example and see what is actually occurring in the building than when administration regularly is visible and interacting with both students and staff," Green said.

There are also "too many instances of adults roaming the buildings," the number of security staff at the middle school is at an "all time low," and referrals are not being addressed, Green said.

"What are you actually going to do to change it?" she asked. "Nothing is truly being managed when it comes to the safety of our building, so we will never actualize success.

"I have said this same speech up here for three years," Green added. "Since nothing has changed... I don't hold much hope."

Progressive discipline

That means, according to the code, that a "student’s first incident will usually merit a consequence of a lesser degree than subsequent (following) violations, taking into account all factors relevant to the severity of the current violation."

If a student's conduct is dangerous or threatens the safety of others, a more severe form of disciplinary action may be warranted.

"We've had difficulty in the middle school with staff not being interested in progressive discipline," Farrell said Wednesday. "Students who are disruptive are removed, behavior consequences are imposed. But those students come back to class. We are a public school. Students need to be educated."

That could explain the dramatic decline in the middle school suspension rate.

Last September and October, there were 267 discipline referrals submitted, according to Poughkeepsie Middle School's most recent quarterly report. "Insubordination” was the most commonly reported type of incident.

This September and October, there were 571 discipline referrals submitted, with “disturbing instruction” and “Insubordination” being the most commonly reported types of incidents.

Despite the number of referrals more than doubling, only eight middle schoolers were suspended during September and October this year, versus 40 students last year.

"I've been in the middle school," Farrell said. "I'm not there every day, but I'm there often enough to know we have good kids. We have good students. Our kids are no different" than children at any other middle school.

But real, sustainable improvement is not going to happen overnight, Farrell said.